Children Raising Themselves 2004 Foreword :Among other problems of our society , the problem of children ‘s neglect is one of the most serious , because it considerably contributes to the rate of violence and criminal behavior . This paper explores how situation , when parents do not care properly about their children ,results in children ‘s self-up-bringing inside of other social structures , usually of criminal nature , i .e . gangs . It is argued that involvement in gangs helps children to obtain patterns of development and behavior strongly needed at the stage of socialization , which normally takes place inside of a family .General discussion :Family as an element of society has two main functions . One of them is economic , i .e . family is an independent economic unit . The other , more important for this discussion , is the function of birthing and raising children and , therefore , transmitting through the process of up-bringing the social values , knowledge and patterns of behavior , that is , culture .Family is responsible for development of children from the birth till the age of full self-responsibility (Zeitlin et al . Thus , family is the basic agent of socialization .The modern society has brought many challenges for the family , and quite often we hear about crisis of family . The high percent of divorces results in large amount of single parents . If a single parent works , she does not have much time to fulfill all developmental needs of her child .Even if a family is full , parents might be the same busy and this may impose great psychological pressure on its children as well . Low-income families are at highest risk . This was characteristic for the urban communes beginning with the XIX-th century and even earlier (Alger , and this is still characteristic for the modern cities . A number of studies clearly show that impoverishment is the main factor leading to neglect of children (Salmelainen . Impoverishment also may contribute to the phenomenon of children becoming actual orphans when their parents are still alive . While in rural areas neglected children can find care through the chains of kinship and neighborhood , in cities they are too often left without any supervision . except the supervision by their peers and older adolescents .“The neglectful families appear to be less organized , more chaotic , and less verbally expressive than non-neglectful families (Salmelainen .Such families cannot fulfill the function of socialization and force children , especially at the stage of adolescence , to find other communes that can meet their needs . The phenomenon of gangs consisting of youngsters can be primarily seen from this point of view . “What is a gang ? It is pride , loyalty , friends , trust . it ‘s about structure ,rules , consequences . it ‘s being somebody , having success and feeling safe and wanted . Surprised ? It is surprising , but to really make a gang work they need to pattern themselves after the ideal family (Gangs .While family fails to provide clear definition of values and is not able to adapt to the society , gangs can appear as the best possible alternative . Values , traditions , respect among peers belonging to…